Ja Rule Says New Album Will Drop Before Beginning Prison Term

Ja Rule may be going away sometime following a February hearing, after being sentenced to two years in prison for a 2007 gun charge, but he's making sure he gets some music out before then.

The rapper revealed in a Twitter update that he'll be dropping his first new album, since 2009's The Mirror, which he leaked for free, before he is incarcerated.

"Damn some of u act like 18 months is forever... It ain't Hard to tell who the snitches are!!!" Ja Rule wrote (@RuleYork). "Renaissance Project will be dropping before I go in #Supportrealhiphop!!!"

In an interview with XXL, which aired on MTV2, Ja explained why the new album got a title change, after it was previously titled Venni Vetti Vecci 2010.

"I changed the name of my album from Venni Vetti Vecci 2010 ... first of all, Venni Vetti Vecci was my baby; that was my first album," explained Ja. "You can never duplicate that era in time. That was my whole life's work in that album up until that time.

"And then number two, I went to Africa -- it took on a hold of me, when I was doing my album and the whole project, what I was going through right now, with the new beginning, I'm not with Murder Inc. anymore, but they're still the family," he continued. "I'm on my own venture, so it was a sign of a new beginning, new ambitions, new everything. They built this statue out there, it's called The Renaissance, and it's a statue of a man holding his baby on his shoulders with his wife in his arms, pointing to the heavens. To me, it just symbolized what I'm about right now and just the word -- fresh start, I said that's what I want to call my project, The Renaissance Project and it represents what I'm about..."

The Renaissance Project will be released through Ja Rule's own MPire Music Group. But, as of press time, there was no release date.

Ja Rule is scheduled to be in court on February 9th, when the court will set a day for the rapper to begin serving his prison sentence.